Daise Congar

Contents

General

Daise Congar is a woman from Emond's Field in the Two Rivers. She is married to Wit Congar, and she is twice as wide as her husband. Daise has a hard face, a roaring voice, and though her body is wide, there is no fat on it (TEotW, Ch. 1). In fact, there is not a woman in the Two Rivers larger than Daise, except for Alsbet Luhhan, and Daise has a far worse temper than Mistress Luhhan.

Mistress Congar also has a mean streak to go with her size (TSR, Ch. 30), something that makes most people a little anxious when dealing with her, including her very own husband.

Timeline

The first time we meet Daise Congar is when Tam al'Thor and Rand are coming to Emond's Field. They encounter Daise's husband as they arrive in the village, and as he is complaining about the Wisdom, Daise comes out of their house, telling him to not mind the Women's Circle business. She threatens to make him wash his own clothes and make his own food if he doesn't behave better (TEotW, Ch. 1).

Rand thinks about how the women of Emond's Field are trying to get his father re-married, and how Daise is among those women (TEotW, Ch. 1).

Later that very day, when the peddler arrives, Wit Congar is devastated because the Village Council wants to talk to Padan Fain in private--so he can't sell his wares and Daise had sent him to buy pins (TEotW, Ch. 3).

When Perrin comes home to Emond's Field, Marin al'Vere tells him that Daise is now the Wisdom. Perrin is stunned to learn that she has such a rank, as "the woman is like a bull". Marin also tells Perrin that Wit will carry tales to the Whitecloaks if Daise doesn't stop him (TSR, Ch. 29).

When Marin is guiding Perrin, Loial, Faile, and the three Aiel out of the inn, they encounter Cenn Buie, who believes that Loial is a Trolloc. Marin tells him to mind his own business, and that the party is to be dealt with by the Women's Circle. When Cenn doesn't calm down, she says that if he thinks the Village Council overrules the Circle, she will have Daise convince him that he is wrong. Perrin thinks that if Daise is the Wisdom, she will force Cenn to take foul-tasting concoctions every day for a year. He also believes that Nynaeve will have a fit if she ever finds out that Daise has become the Wisdom after herself (TSR, Ch. 30).

The second meeting with Daise in person is when Perrin is coming back to Emond's Field after he saved the Cauthons and the Luhhans. Daise is there, with her husband, and as always, Wit seems to disappear in her presence (TSR, Ch. 42).

Verin sends a young girl to get Daise for the boys and men that were fighting alongside Perrin against the Trollocs. Verin tells the girl to say that Daise is to come immediately, and that she will not have any patience with Daise's airs. The girl is a little afraid, but she'd much rather go to Daise than to have an Aes Sedai mad at her, so she runs to fetch the Wisdom (TSR, Ch. 42).

After the first attack on Emond's Field made by the Trollocs, Perrin hears shouting from the south, and he finds that some of the Congars and Coplins have attacked the Tuatha'an. When he welcomes the Tinkers to the village, a lot of people express hostility toward the Traveling People, including Daise. She believes in the old tales of Tinkers stealing children, and she even tells Cenn Buie that he is to listen to the Wisdom, because if he doesn't, she will bring in the Circle. Perrin asks them if they really want to send the Tuatha'an back to the Trollocs, to send the children to a certain death, and Cenn says to Daise that she can try to bring in the Circle, but she won't succeed. Daise has, however, changed her mind, and pretends that she wasn't hostile toward the Tuatha'an at all. She guides the Traveling People in to the village, where she promises them hot baths and somewhere they can rest (TSR, Ch. 45).

When Perrin is having a meeting with the Village Council, some of the women from the Women's Circle are going through lists of remaining food, and Perrin overhears Daise and Marin talking about how the women are eating less than the men, and that the males mustn't find out, because if they do, they will insist on eating just as little as the women, even though they are doing the fighting and need the strength (TSR, Ch. 53).

Daise Congar is among the women present when Perrin and Faile are wed (TSR, Ch. 53).

When the final battle against the Trollocs is about to start, it becomes clear that Daise and the other women have planned to bring the children out of Emond's Field if something goes wrong. Daise carries a pitchfork fastened to a pole that is nearly three feet taller than herself. Later, when the Trollocs are attacking and the Whitecloaks refuse to help out, Daise and the other women comes to help the men, and Perrin watches her as she kills several Trollocs with her pitchfork (TSR, Ch. 56).

When the final battle is over, Daise and Wit are once again reunited, and they are hugging each other tightly. Then the Whitecloaks appear, and Daise announces that it was because of the Whitecloaks and the fact that they refused to join the battle that the the women came to the men's aid (TSR, Ch. 56).

A little while after, Daise herself comes to Faile, along with the Wisdoms of the other villages in the Two Rivers. They are there to talk about various things, like boys who have run off to see the world, and how badly the weather is behaving. It becomes clear that they have a certain fondness for Perrin, and that any mention of him will make them stumble in what they are about to say. They swap between treating Faile as the noble she is and behaving as if she is a young girl who needs to be told everything (LoC, Prologue).

Relationships

Daise is married to Wit Congar, a man famous for being a troublemaker and complainer, as is the rest of his family (TEotW, Ch. 1).

Wit and Daise are not reported to have any children.

She is constantly arguing with Cenn Buie, the thatcher in Emond's Field.

Perrin thinks that Nynaeve will be mad when she learns that Daise is the Wisdom, something that shows that Nynaeve probably doesn't like Daise very much (TSR, Ch. 30).

Miscellaneous

Daise is married into the Congar family, which is so intermarried with the Coplins that no one really knows where one family stops and the other begins. The two families are know as troublemakers and complainers, all the way from Watch Hill to Deven Ride (TEotW, Ch. 1).

The house she and Wit live in looks like it needs the thatcher's attention, but instead of trying to get it fixed, Wit would rather spend his time sprawled on the front steps (TEotW, Ch. 1).

Quotes

"And Wit Congar will carry tales too, if Daise doesn't stop him. She is the Wisdom now. Perrin it is best for you to go. Believe me." Perrin shook his head slowly; it was too much to take in. Daise Congar the Wisdom? The woman was like a bull. (Perrin and Marin al'Vere; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 29).

"You always were an old fool, Cenn Buie," Daise snorted. "Do you think we'd let you send children back out there for Trollocs?" Cenn's jaw worked furiously, but before he could get a word out Daise put a hand on his narrow chest and thrust him aside. (When the Tuatha'an reach Emond's Field; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 45).

He wrenched the blade free in time to see Daise Congar's pitchfork tines take a goat-snouted Trolloc in the throat. It seized the long shaft with one hand, stabbing a barbed spear at her with the other, but Marin al'Vere calmly hamstrung it with one blow of her cleaver; the leg gave way, and she just as coolly severed the Trolloc's spine at the base of its neck. (Perrin during the last battle against the Trollocs; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 56).